"I'm sure you know this already, but this will likely delay when we can put you on duty," Officer Howard said with a sigh, "allowing us to give the people the answers they'll want to hear..."
"What people want to hear and the truth can be two different things," Jacob warned from his seat as his phone call ended, "and sadly, things related to that freak show are likely one of them. It involves a lot of scientific theory that Leona has said is mostly theoretical at the present time... and that was about all of the science of it I could really understand."
Officer Howard nodded, "I'm sure... but as Jack Nicholson says, not everyone can handle the truth."
I found myself shaking my head at the use of a movie line to prove a point. I watched my dad nod in agreement though. And that was something that made me nervous. The freak show had transformed Molly directly, and now it seemed as though that process gave her the ability to transform others. In the back of my mind, I wondered about this. Did this sort of thing apply to the freak show's other victims? Would Miles have a heard of anthro-Thompson's Gazelle on his family's farm? Would Leona have a pride of lion people in Illinois? Would it all snowball on those that didn't want to lose their humanity?
"So what did Ms. Leona have to say?" Officer Howard asked my father after a few moments.
"She'll be on her way out," my father answered, "but it'll take awhile for her to get here, mostly because she doesn't know what equipment you have here for a lab..."
"Probably nothing like what you have in Peoria," Officer Howard sighed, "Will she need a place to stay?"
"She'll need space here to do her work," Jacob told him, "but she should be fine staying with George and Molly at night. Most of her sentence is a specialized probation, since she plead guilty and entered on a plea bargain at her trial."
"And your state will allow an officer who hasn't officially had a shift of duty watch her?" Officer Howard questioned.
"If they learn about it, no," Jacob sighed, "but I don't intend to leave until I can learn how this happened, myself. I care about my son, dearly, and Molly has been like a daughter since this all began."
"I suppose that is all we can do for now," Officer Howard sighed.
My father and I both nodded.
"We'll bring Leona in when she arrives," Jacob told him.
"Then I'll see you both again in a few days, along with the new Mrs. Wayne," Officer Howard.
"Could we get our copy of the measurements?" I asked.
Officer Howard nodded and handed me the slip of scrap paper.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My dad and I slowly made our way back out and I quickly stretched out my back once I had the room to stand fully erect. Looking over to see that my eyes were closer to the roof of the building rather the normal "eye level" of the building made me sigh. Molly had been dealing with this since Changes injected her in the beginning, and now I had joined her as part of a "race" of giants. That made me sigh heavily, as outside of a gymnasium, there was no structure in which Molly or I could truly stand comfortably. But there was nothing I could do about that.
We then slowly made my way back to my truck. It was a little odd to be out in cold weather in only a pair of shorts, but I still felt very warm underneath all the fur that I had grown.
"So how long will you and mom be staying?" I asked, "Don't you go back on duty in a few days."
"We'll stay until we know what has caused your transformation," Jacob sighed, "you are my son, and I'm not going to abandon you. It'll mean taking a few extra personal days, but for the most part, it's rare that I get a chance to really vacation all that much. So it'll all balance out in the end."
I nodded and climbed into the backseat of my truck, which probably wouldn't be used when my folks went back to their home.
"So, what do you plan to do, son?" Jacob asked as we began driving, "do you need to pick up anything while we're out?"
"I don't think so," I sighed, "though, I'd think that it would be best that I avoid being seen by the public until my transformation can be explained."
"So you intend to stay around Bandhavgarh?" Jacob asked.
"Yes," I nodded from the back seat, "Columbia Falls knows about Molly, but most of them believe she is the only tiger person here... and I don't want to be responsible for a panic."
My father nodded and we continued on home.
+++++++++++++++++
"So how long will it take Leona to get here?" Molly asked me as we lay quietly together that night.
Most of the day had gone with watching some of the college football games on television. Molly knew that Leona would come out, but she didn't ask too many detailed questions during the day.
"In a few days," I said quietly, doing my best to ignore the arousing scent that I smelled whenever I was close to Molly since my transformation.
I then felt Molly run a paw softly down one of my shoulders.
"You know I go back to my work with the school in a few days," Molly told me, "thanks to what R.A.M. has done with the school board, I can't take time off for anything but an emergency, and I'm pretty sure your transformation won't count."
I gave a half groan and nodded. Beauregard's machinations were only going to get worse when he inevitably found out what happened to me. My groan sounded like a low growl, and I would have wanted to put more behind it. A good part of me wanted to walk onto Beauregard's ranch, grab him by the throat and hold him till he quit moving, but I knew I would never get away with it. We would need him to commit a crime and for there to be proof that he committed it before anyone could do anything.
"I suppose we'll have to wait until the weekend after the coming one," I sighed, "if she wants to run blood tests on you."
"She probably will," Molly nodded, and rubbed her head to the bottom of my muzzle.
I nuzzled her back.
"So, what do you want to do for New Years?" Molly asked, "tomorrow is the thirty first. New Years Eve."
"I hadn't thought about it," I shrugged, and then smirked "maybe we'll have a snowball fight."
"Oh, that's what a mature married man does," Molly shook her head.
"Well, what do you think I should do?" I asked.
"I could think of a few things," Molly smirked.
"Not with my parents just across the hall," I said firmly.
"Come on..." Molly protested, "you don't even know what I was going to say."
"Yes, but it's been on your mind... shoot, it's been on my mind," I answered.
"See, it's consensual."
"No, it means we're perverts," I answered.
"We don't have to do that," Molly answered and pulled me into a hug, "there are other things. I guess I'm focused on it right now because... well... it's our honeymoon."
"Some honeymoon," I quipped, "we didn't go anywhere, and I turned into a tiger besides."
"I'm not complaining," Molly smirked again.
I only shook my head.
"What about seeing what Dave is doing for New Years Eve?" Molly asked, "See if he and his family wants to come over. We have more then enough meat stocked up, and now we have to get rid of the other stuff that you can't digest now."
I only sighed, "and what do we say to him?"
"I don't know, but you can't hide from everybody," Molly told me and licked my cheek and then settled down to sleep, "good night, George."
"Good night."
++++++++++++++++++
I called Dave at about ten thirty the next morning.
"Hey, George, buddy," Dave answered his phone, "I didn't expect to hear from you. How's your honeymoon going?"
"Wild," I commented dryly, not really knowing what to say, "I was wondering, what are your plans for tonight?"
"Nothing real special," Dave answered, "Veronica likes to watch the ball drop on TV."
"What would you say to a New Years party, then?" I asked, "you can bring some board games and things and we can all watch the ball drop together."
"You sure? What would Molly say?"
"It's her idea," I answered, "some things have gone on here that you wouldn't believe if I told you."
"Beauregard hasn't done something, has he?"
"No, this isn't Beauregard," I answered, "but I don't think you'd believe me without seeing it."
"Okay..."
Molly, my folks, and I then went through the day preparing things. We moved the dinning room table into the living room so everyone could watch television and eat or play a game at the same time. Dave and his family didn't arrive until that evening. I decided to answer the door to let the surprise be a short one at the start.
"Holy..."
"David," Tabby chastised her husband.
Veronica looked at me in surprise.
"George?" Dave then asked.
"Surprise," I shrugged weakly.
"Tiger-man!" Veronica announced.
"Call me, George," I answered, "Tiger-man sounds like some strange superhero name."
"How did this happen?" Tabby asked me as they came in.
"We don't know," I sighed, "Molly and I were enjoying our wedding night and "poof"."
"Doing what?" Veronica asked.
I looked to Molly nervously, as I didn't want to tell a kindergarten to elementary school student that I was having sex.
"Watching television," Molly answered, "we were watching television."
"I'm sure you were," Dave nodded, "come along, dear, let's put your games on the table."
Veronica nodded and followed her father to the table.
"We're having someone who has some knowledge on how the freak show's formula works," I told Dave and Tabby, "hopefully, she'll be able to explain things."
"Hopefully," Tabby nodded.
"Are you going to get tiger-babies?" Veronica asked Molly.
Molly nearly jumped in surprise, but calmed herself and set Veronica in her lap.
"It's a little early for that, dear," Molly said politely, "maybe when everything settles down, George and I will have some cubs for you to babysit."
I smiled as Veronica hugged Molly. It was a quiet and happy moment.
Our New Years Eve was good. We ended up playing a bunch of small board games to amuse Veronica, who nodded off at about nine thirty PM. We then played dominoes until the countdown was close on the television. Looking over to see Veronica cuddled between Molly and her mother, Tabby, made me half daydream about having a family with Molly. A son or daughter to raise and cuddle, to teach how to hunt, but I soon shook that from my mind. Molly and I still had a lot of hurdles to overcome.
++++++++++++++++++++++
The next couple of days went fairly quietly. We all enjoyed the football on New Years Day, even Molly. But by January second, Molly had to return to her post at the school. Now, I was supposed to go on duty that day, but because of my transformation, I had to wait until uniforms that would fit arrived, at the earliest. I was privately sure that Officer Howard would probably have to explain to explain to whoever made the uniforms for the Columbia Falls Police why the pants would need a fly in both the front AND the back... and the consequences of that would probably mean that I would have to wait until Leona could figure out why I transformed.
"Are you sure you don't want to walk down to the school with me?" Molly asked from where she was getting ready, "the kids may love you now that you're furry."
"I don't want to cause a panic," I said from underneath my sheets, "besides, I don't want to steal your thunder."
Molly smiled, "Okay, dear. Have a good day. I'll see you this afternoon."
"You too," I told her, "be careful."
"I always am," Molly answered.
And with that, Molly headed off to her work at the school, and I laid back down to return to sleep for a little while. I fell into a dream of Molly and I raising a young daughter... a white tigress, and I smiled at the thought of a family.